AMR Constructions was established as a partnership firm in the year 1992, with A. Mahesh Reddy and his brother, A. Girish Reddy. Since then, the company has diversified into several verticals like mining and irrigation, and has grown from a Rs 30-lakh turnover in 1992 to a topline of Rs 1,350 crore. Mahesh Reddy says learning from his clients—mega players like L&T and India Cements—has made all the difference.

Our journey with AMR Constructions begun in 1992, when my brother Girish and I started it as a partnership firm. The industrial sector was booming then. Key players came from Vellore, as did we. We decided to set ourselves apart by sticking to a specific sector, and expanding only when we reached a certain level of expertise.

We began with sub-contracts for L&T. We learnt a lot from them: how to put systems in place, develop projects and then manage them. Our biggest triumph came in 1995 while consulting for L&T’s Nepal projects. We worked in sub-zero temperatures but we held on. That hard work paid off. After that international project, things began to roll for us.

We quickly moved to another milestone in our journey. In 1997, we voyaged into limestone quarrying. We didn’t have any experience here but we plunged in because we knew we could do it. We were ready. Our belief was validated. Soon, we got a contract with India Cements. Usually, cement plants don’t give out contracts for limestone mining—it’s a crucial step in their process. Irregular supply, even for a single day, can lead to interest costs shooting up. Our relationship continues till today. Our key learnings—how to be a large, professional company with established processes has come from clients like India Cements and L&T.

Not that every leap we made had great results. Our “next defining step” turned out to be a big mistake, and an even bigger learning.  In 2000, we went into iron ore mining. But that sector turned out to be too volatile. There was too much bureaucracy. At times, there was no demand, and our equipment would be demobilised. Having worked with professional companies earlier and a steady demand-supply routine, we couldn’t handle the sheer eccentricity of this. We realised we must concentrate on our strength—before everything else. For us, that was infrastructure.

More lessons were in store for us. We’d established great relationships with private players. We knew it was time for us to take on the bigger fish—the government. We took contracts for building roads with the Andhra Pradesh government. In 2004, when YS Rajasekhara Reddy became the AP chief minister, there was a surge in irrigation projects. We moved into the vertical. After his untimely demise, projects stalled completely. Fortunately, we had moved quickly with our projects. Despite the quick execution, 2009 turned out to be one of our worst years.

We’ve been smart since then and have a blend of verticals. Some 50 to 70 per cent of the turnover comes from contract mining. The rest comes from construction—we do industrial projects for the AP government, ISRO and Air Force. It’s stuff that we had seen in our clients while we were growing as a company.